Dear R developers, I've run into a very cryptic error message from R CMD check while working on a new package. This is the relevant output: [fizban@~/Rmap]:R CMD check Rmap * checking for working pdflatex ... OK * using log directory '/home/fizban/Rmap/Rmap.Rcheck' * using R version 2.9.0 (2009-04-17) * using session charset: UTF-8 * checking for file 'Rmap/DESCRIPTION' ... OK * checking extension type ... Package * this is package 'Rmap' version '0.1' * checking package dependencies ... OK * checking if this is a source package ... OK * checking for .dll and .exe files ... OK * checking whether package 'Rmap' can be installed ... ERROR Installation failed. See '/home/fizban/Rmap/Rmap.Rcheck/00install.out' for details. [fizban@~/Rmap]:cat /home/fizban/Rmap/Rmap.Rcheck/00install.out * Installing *source* package ?Rmap? ... ** R ** preparing package for lazy loading ** help *** installing help indices Error in `[.data.frame`(M, , 4) : undefined columns selected * Removing ?/home/fizban/Rmap/Rmap.Rcheck/Rmap? R CMD build + INSTALL fails in the same way: [fizban@~/Rmap]:R CMD build Rmap * checking for file 'Rmap/DESCRIPTION' ... OK * preparing 'Rmap': * checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... OK * removing junk files * checking for LF line-endings in source and make files * checking for empty or unneeded directories WARNING: directory 'Rmap/man' is empty * building 'Rmap_0.1.tar.gz' [fizban@~/Rmap]:sudo R CMD INSTALL Rmap_0.1.tar.gz * Installing to library ?/usr/local/lib/R/site-library? * Installing *source* package ?Rmap? ... ** R ** preparing package for lazy loading ** help *** installing help indices Error in `[.data.frame`(M, , 4) : undefined columns selected * Removing ?/usr/local/lib/R/site-library/Rmap? The error is easily reproducible, as it's caused by the lack of Rd documentation in the "man" directory; adding even one Rd file solves the problem. It's clearly a corner case (yes. I'm lazy and should have written the documentation a long time ago), but if you think it's worth the time it would be better to have a clearer error message from R CMD check. P.S.: this is on an updated Debian Sid: [fizban@~/Rmap]:dpkg -l | grep "ii r-" | grep -v cran ii r-base 2.9.0-4 GNU R statistical computation and graphics system ii r-base-core 2.9.0-4 GNU R core of statistical computation and graphics system ii r-recommended 2.9.0-4 GNU R collection of recommended packages [metapackage] Thanks for your time, Marco Scutari -- Marco Scutari, Ph.D. Student Department of Statistical Sciences University of Padova, Italy "Facts don't care if you feel good about them." Slashdot, 25/10/07